Sunday, August 13, 2017

August 13th 2017

We have enjoyed our R&R day at Lake Pamamaroo which is part of the Menindee Lake system. Being Sunday morning we opted for a slow start. About 10.00 am our faithful friends who can always find us, no matter where, John & Beth arrived along with the excuse to return the hot water bottle we had lent to Beth for her very stiff and sore shoulder. She seems recovered and ready for the last few days of their trip to Lake Tyers in Victoria.

Darling River in Kinchega NP

A luncheon picnic excursion seemed the best way to spend our Sunday. Off we went to explore Kinchega National Park. We camped there years ago in a tent..probably last century! The little that I remembered seemed to be the very grey landscape...soil, trees and river banks. This aspect has not changed but the river is now a soft green colour instead of looking like chocolate milk.

The wonderful old River Red Gum trees along the Darling R. are huge. The branches and trunks are twisted by floods and weather...some trees must be 500 to 1000 years old. They rely on floods as their life blood and in latter years the floods have not been so regular because of the upstream usage of the water. The Darling Channel is steep and deep. I find it hard to imagine a flood which would have to escape this channel before it could spread out onto the flats where many trees exist. There were some flood height markers which seemed very high to me but I am sure they would be accurate..eg 1976 & 2007.

The NP was once known as Kinchega Station. Much of this has been noted and preserved especially the old Shearing Shed..the only thing missing from this was the smell of sheep (that I don't really care for!) We spent quite some time wandering around the Shearing Shed, Shearers Quarters and various memorabilia. At the peak of wool production and with 64 shearers using blades, it is said that 72, 000 sheep were shorn....what an undertaking to organise the whole process.

The stories about the Homestead and River Boats were interesting. Late 1800s the boats served to transport mail, wool and general supplies as well as people, up the river from Wentworth. The Station Communities suffered very hard lives with difficult working and living conditions.

The day has been warm with a clear sky but cool air is creeping in now that the evening is settling. Again we enjoyed a walk along the shore of the lake. Kangaroo and emu marks were evident in the sandy waters edge. We returned to camp along the road and John even spied the winding track left by a snake..